Street car and railway indicator.



E. H. STACY. STREET CAR AND RAILWAY INDICATOR.

I APPLICATION HLED APR. 12. 1916. 1,215,070. Patented Feb. 6,1917.

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E. H. STACY.

STREET CAR AND RAILWAY ENDICATOR.

APPLICATION HLED APR. 12, 1916- 315,070. Patented Feb. 6,1917.

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27 2) INVENTOR ATTORNEY E. H. STACY.

STREET CAR AND RAILWAY INDICATOR.

Patented Feb. 6

APPLICATION FILED APR. 12, I916. 1,215,0?U. 1917.

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ERNEST H. STACY, OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA.

STREET CAR AND RAILWAY INDICATOR.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ERNEST H. STAoY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Atlanta, in the county of Fulton and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Street Car and Railway Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved street car and railway indicator and the principal object of the invention is to provide a device of the character described which is so constructed that the indicating ribbon may be moved a certain distance with each operation of the machine and to further so construct this indicator that the disk transmitting movement to the machine may be moved into and out of engagement with the gear of the motor shaft thus permitting the motor to rotate after the ribbon has ceased to move.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means for releasably preventing movement of the machine and to so construct this mechanism that the latch lever will be prevented from returning to a lock ing position before the machine has had sufficient time to move.

Another object of the invention is to so construct this machine that an electro-magnet may be used for releasably holding the latch lever in an inoperative position, a plurality of circuits being passed through the magnet, each circuit being provided with its own contact. v

Another object of the invention is to so construct this machine that it may be run from a motor positioned in the lighting circuit of the car, the instantaneous contact of one of the circuits controlling the electromagnet, being actuated from a trip carried by a cross'wire of the overhead trolley system.

This improved street car and railway indicator is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a view showing the machine in front elevation,

Fig. 2 is a view showing the machinein side elevation, the box or housing being shown in section,

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, taken from the opposite side of the machine,

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the circuits controlling the operation of this machine,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 12, 1916.

Patented Feb. 6, 1917.

Serial m. 90,723.

Fig. 5 is a view showing a contact for the clrcuit leading from the lighting circuit,

Flg. 6 is a perspective view of a contact positioned in one of the elcctro-magnet energizlng circuits.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view of the latch lever and disk,

Fig. 8 is a modified type of disk.

- The housing 10 which isprovidcd with a cover or closure 11 is mounted in the car in any suitable manner and in any suitable place where it can be conveniently seen by the passengers and has its rear wall 12 extending beyond one end. The closure 11 is provided with an exhibiting opening 13 through which the ribbon 1% may be seen, the ribbon carrying the names or numbers of the streets thus indicating to the passengers the street next to be reached. Of course, if this were used on a railroad instead of a street-car line, the names of the stations would be used. This housing may be placed either in the position shown in Fig. 2 or if it would be more convenient it can be positioned as shown in Fig. 3, it being immaterial to the operation of the indicator. This extension provides means for supporting the electromagnet 15 which is in the form of a solenoid and has its core 16 extended for connection with the actuating lever-arm 17, the purpose of which will be hereinafter brought out.

- A frame or supporting structure is mounted within the housing 10 and is provided with corner standards 18 which carry the side bars 19 and 20 which side bars are connected at one end by the cross rods 21. A similar cross rod 22 is provided at the opposite end of the frame and is carried by the upper end of the corner standard 18 and curved strip 23. Therefore a strong frame is provided for the indicator.

The feeding roller which is positioned intermediate the length of this frame is provided with a shaft 24 rotatably mounted in bearings carried by side bar-s19 and carries disks 25 which are positioned upon this shaft 2% adjacent the guiding plates 26. These 5 disks :25 are provided with notches 27 or pins 27 to engage the ends of the rods 28 extending transversely of the curtain or ribbon 14 and it will thus be seen that as the ribbon moves, the shaft 24: will be ro tated and the feeding of the ribbon from one roller to the other will be controlled through the, medium of the latch engaged disk 29 as will be hereinafter brought out. It will thus be seen that this feed control roller acts in timed relation to the movement of the ribbon as it is moved through the medium of the cross rods 28 carried by the ribbon. It will be further seen that due to the guiding plates 26, the ends of which may be beveled, the cross rods will be moved to the proper position for tting into the notches of these disks.

This ribbon is carried by the rollers 30 and 31 which are provided with axles 32 rotatably mounted in slots formed in the side bars 19 and releasably held in place by the latches 33. By loosening these latches, the rollers can be removed and new ones put in place. Therefore if the car is to change its route, it is a very simple matter to remove one ribbon together with its roller and substitute a new one containing the names 0f@ the streets or stations, for the route the car is to take. These shafts 32 extend beyond the side bar 19 at one side of the frame as can be clearly seen in Fig. 1, one of them being provided with the sprocket wheel 34 and the second with a gear wheel 35. The gear wheel 35 which is carried by the shaft of roller 30 meshes with an idler gear 36 positioned for engagement with the teeth of the gear 37 rotatably mounted upon the pivotally mounted arm 38 and meshing with the teeth of the gear 39 which in turn meshes with the teeth of the gear 40. The gears 37 and 39 are idler gears whereas gear 40 is rigidly mounted upon the shaft 41 rotatably supported by the side bars 20 and provided at its opposite end with a gear 42. By having this bar 38 pivotally mounted, it may be shifted through the medium of the latch lever 43 thus selectively bringing the gear 37 into mesh either with gear 36 or into mesh with gear 44 rotatably connected with the supporting bar 45. This gear 44 is provided with a stem 46 upon which there is rigidly mounted a sprocket wheel 47 about which passes a sprocket chain 48 for transmitting rotary motion to the roller 31 through the medium of the sprocket wheel 34. Therefore when the idler gear 37 is in engagement with the gear 44 as shown in Fig. 3, the rotary motion from shaft 42 will be transmit ted to the roller 31 instead of to the. roller 30 as would be the case if the gear 37 were in mesh with gear 36. This permits the direction in which the ribbon will travel to be controlled, it being obvious that when one end of the route is reached, the ribbon must travel in the opposite direction from that previously traveled in order to properly indicate the street.

This indicator is operated from a motor 49 upon the shaft 50 of which there is mounted av friction gear 51 contacting with the friction disk 52 rigidly mounted upon the driving shaft 53 of the indicator. This driving shaft 53 is rotatably and slidably mount ed in bearings 54 andis provided with a worm 55 engaging the teeth of gear 42. The driving shaft 53 has been slidably mounted so that when movement of the machine is first started, the shaft may move longitudinally thus bringing gear 51 into engagement with disk 52 and rotating the shaft 41 a sufiicient distance to rotate the disk 29 slightly, the idler gears previously described permitting of this movement. In order to accomplish this longitudinal sliding movement, there has been provided abutment collars 56 positioned upon the shaft upon opposite sides of the arms 57 extending from the latch lever 58. This latch lever 58 which is yieldablv held in an operative position by means of springs 59 carries a roller 60 for fitting into the notches 61 of the disk 29 mounted upon the feed controlling shaft 24. Therefore when the latch lever is moved to a releasing position, the driving shaft 53 will be moved longitudinally thus turning shaft 41 a certain amount and moving the ribbon to rotate shaft 24 and disk 29 and move the disk to bring the notch out of posisolenoid 15, the latch lever will be moved to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2 and one of the spring strips 61 moved into engagement with the terminal 62 with which the wire 63 is connected. A wire 64 is connected with the terminal 65 insulated from 62 and therefore when the latch lever moves to the dotted line position, the circuit of which wires 63 and 64 form a part will be closed. This wire 63 leads to one of the terminals of the motor 49 and the wire 64 leads to a suitable plug with which a wire 66 leading from the motor 49 is also connected, the plug being screwed into one of the sockets of the lighting circuit indicated in general by the numeral 67 in the diagrammatic view Fig. 4. Therefore when the device is in operation, the indicator will be moved as long as the spring strip 61 is held in engagement with the terminal 62.

In order to move this lever to the releasing position, there has been provided two circuits for energizing the solenoid, each of which passes through the transformer 68. The primary or instantaneous circuit as it might be termed, includes a wire 69 leading from the jaw 70 of arm '70 carried by the trolley pole 71. This'arm 70 is so positioned as to engage the abutment 72 mounted upon the cross wire 73 leading from the trolley 74. Therefore when the abutment engages longitudinally,

the arm, the current will pass through the wire 69 through the transformer 68 and through wire 75 to the solenoid and after energizing the solenoid, will pass through the ground wire 7 6. The second circuit includes a wire 77 leading from the trolley pole 71 through the transformer 68 and through wire 78 through the contact strip 79 carried by the offset portion 80 of the actuating lever 17. A second contact strip 81 is carried by this off-set portion, it being of course insulated therefrom and is connected with a wire 82 leading to the wire 75 through which it will pass to energize i the solenoid and then pass into .the ground wire 76. In order to bridge the space between the contact strips 79 and 81 there is provided bridge strips 83 positioned upon the disk 29 adjacent the inner ends of the notches 61 as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

The operation of this indicator is as follows The station indicator is set up in the car in a convenient place and after the wires 69 and 77 have been connected with the trip and trolley pole wire, the usual plug with which wires 64 and 66 are connected will be screwed into one of the sockets of the lighting circuit of the car. The latch lever 43 will be moved to bring gear 37 into engagement with the proper gear to cause the ribbon to travel in the proper direction and the car will then be moved along the track. An abutment 72 will be positioned at each point where it is desired to have the indicator move to bring a new name or number opposite the display opening 13. \Vhen the arm 70 engages the abutment block 72, the current will pass through the primary or instantaneous circuit and will energize the solenoid thus drawing the latch lever 58 downwardly to move the roller 60 out of the notch of the disk 29. At the same time, the arm 57 will move the driving shaft 53 partially rotating shaft 41 and moving the shaft 24: a short distance. As the latch lever 58 moves downwardly, the switch shown in Fig. 5 will be moved to close the motor circuit and the motor will rotate. Movement longitudinally of the shaft 53 will bring the friction disk 52 in engagement with the friction gear 51 and therefore rotary motion will be transmitted to the driving shaft 53. This circuit is only closed for a very short length of time as the circuit will be broken as soon as the arm 7 0 passes out of engagement with the abutment 72 and therefore the second circuit has been provided. As the latch lever moves downwardly, the contact strips 79 and 81 are brought into engagement with one of the bridge strips 83 thus closing the second circuit and permitting current to pass through the solenoid 15 after the primary or instantaneous circuit has been broken.

As the shaft 24: rotates, the edge of disk 29 will engage the roller 60 and thus the latch lever will be mechanically held in an inoperative position after the bridge strips have moved out of engagement with the contact strips and the lever 17 has been drawn to the original position by spring 84-. As soon as the next notch 61 is reached, the springs 59 will draw the latch lever 58 to an operative position thus moving the roller into the notch. and stopping the rotation of the machine. As this latch moves to the operative position, the shaft 53 will be moved longitudinally to move the friction disk 52 out of engagement with the friction gear 51. Therefore the motor may rotate after the current is cut off without rotating the driving shaft 53. Movement of the indicator will now be prevented until the next abutment 72 is reached, the operation being then again repeated to bring a new number or name opposite the display opening. Upon reaching the end of the line, the latch lever 43 will be moved to reverse the movement of the ribbon and the car is started upon the return trip, the operation of the display device being the same excepting of course, the ribbon will travel in the opposite direction from what it did previously.

I have thus provided a display device which is so constructed that the movement of the ribbon can be controlled and which is further so constructed that the motor can rotate after the movement of the display mechanism has been stopped.

What is claimed is 1. An indicator comprising a supporting frame, rollers carried by said frame, actuating means for said rollers including a driving shaft, a ribbon passing from one roller to the other, means for controlling movement of said ribbon including a disk, a latch lever for engaging said disk, an electrically operated motor for driving said indicator, a motor energizing circuit including a switch closed by said latch lever when moved to an inoperative position, an actuating lever for moving said latch lever to an inoperative position, a solenoid having its core connected with said actuating lever, a solenoid energizing circuit including a normally open switch, and a second solenoid energizing circuit including spaced contacts carried by the actuating lever and a bridge strip carried by said disk.

2. An indicator including a supporting frame, spools rotatably connected with said frame, a ribbon carried by. said spools, feed control means for said ribbon including a disk having its edge portion provided with notches, a latch lever carried by said frame and yieldably held in engagement with said disk to prevent movement of said ribbon, an actuating lever for moving said latch lever to an inoperative position, a motor energizing circuit including a switch closed when said latch lever is in an inoperative position, a solenoid having its core connected with said actuating lever for moving the actuating lever to draw the latch lever to an inoperative position, means yieldably holding said actuating lever in an inoperative position, and a solenoid energizing circuit including contact strips carried by said actuating lever in spaced relation and bridge strips carried by said disk between the notches thereof.

3. An indicator including a supporting frame, rollers rotatably connected with said supporting frame, a ribbon carried by said rollers, a driven shaft, means for selectively transmitting rotary movement from said driven shaft to one of said rollers, a driving shaft, means for transmitting rotary motion from said driving shaft to said driven shaft, means for controlling movement of said ribbon including a disk, a latch lever yieldably held in engagement with said disk and having connection with said driving shaft whereby movement of said latch lever to an inoperative position will move said driving shaft longitudinally to an operative position, a motor energizing circuit including a switch closed by the latch lever when moved to an inoperative position, and means for moving said latch lever to an inoperative position.

4. An indicator including a supporting frame, spools carried by said supporting frame, a shaft rotatab-ly connected with said supporting frame between said spools, disks carried by said shaft and having their peripheries provided with notches, a ribbon mounted upon said spools, cross rods carried by said ribbon for fitting into the notches of said disks, a driven shaft, means for selectively transmitting rotary motion of said driven shaft to one of said spools, a locking disk carried by said first mentioned shaft, a latch lever yieldably held in engagement with said locking disk, a driving shaft, means for transmitting motion of said driving shaft to said driven shaft, electrically controlled means for rotating said driving shaft including a switch closed by said latch lever when moved to an inoperative position, an actuating lever for moving said latch lever to an inoperative position, and electrically controlled means for moving said actuating lever in one direction including a circuit having contact strips carried by said actuating lever in spacedrelation, and a bridge strip carried by said locking disk.

5. An indicator including a supporting frame, spools rotatably connected with said supporting frame, a ribbon wound upon said spools, pins extending beyond the edges of said ribbon, means for controlling the movement of said ribbon including pin engaging means and a locking disk, latching means yieldably held in engagement with said locking disk, and means for rotating said spools when the latch is in an inoperative position including a driving shaft and means for transmitting rotary motion of the driving shaft to a selected one of said spools.

6. An indicator comprising a frame, spools rotatably connected with said frame, driving means for said spools including a driving shaft having a gear, a motor provided with a gear for meshing with the gear of said driving shaft, a motor energizing circuit including a normally open switch, a ribbon wound upon said spools, means for controlling movement of said ribbon including a latch lever serving as means for closing said switch when moved to an inoperative position, means for moving said latch lever to an inoperative position including a solenoid, a circuit for initially energizing said solenoid to move said actuating lever to move the latch lever out of an operative position, and a second circuit for energizing said solenoid including contacts carried by said actuating lever in spaced relative position, and a bridge strip for temporarily connecting said contact strips.

7. An indicator including a frame, rollers carried by said frame, a ribbon wound upon said rollers, a driven shaft, means for trans mitting rotary motion of said driven shaft to one of said rollers, a slidably and rota tably mounted driving shaft, means for transmitting rotary motion of said driving shaft to said driven shaft, a motor having a gear, a gear carried by said driving shaft for engagement with the gear of said motor, and means for controlling the movement of said ribbon including a locking disk, a latch lever for engaging said locking disk, and means extending from said latch lever for engagement with said driving shaft to move the driving shaft longitudinally when the ERNEST H. STACY.

Witnesses EDWARD EVERETT DYSARD, Gno. EDWARD Ma'r'rrrnws.

Copies ofthis patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

